REI is moving next door to Half Price Book’s flagship store and corporate headquarters on East Northwest Highway, continuing the retail revitalization in the area extending east from NorthPark Center.

The popular outdoor recreation chain is relocating from its Dallas store at 4515 LBJ Freeway in spring 2015.

Employees will transfer to the new store, which will be REI’s largest in the market. At 34,000 square feet, the new store will be about half the size of the store on LBJ that opened in 1993. REI typically doesn't build stores that size anymore.

Half Price Books CEO Sharon Anderson has been courting the Seattle-based chain, one of her favorite places to shop, for more than two years.

Anderson is developing the property owned by Half Price Books, the chain of 120 stores in 16 states co-founded by her mother. The 6-acre development is on the northeast corner of East Northwest Highway and Shady Brook Lane. The only existing business there now is Starbucks, which signed a new 10-year lease this year.

REI has a store in Plano and a new store will open this fall in Southlake.

“Moving the Dallas store south and east gets us into a shopping area where more of our customers live and shop,” said Janet Hopkins, REI retail director for its Southwest district. “It also allows us to cover the market well and be more convenient and have a stronger brand presence across the region.”

The construction along LBJ was a factor in the timing.

“It definitely has been tough on weekends. We’re not getting the traffic when people constantly hear on the news to avoid 635,” Hopkins said. “We have seen a definite decline in sales.”

The new store will have the same brands and categories that the larger store now stocks, including a full-service bike shop. The new store \will be adding to its list of outdoor classes.

Half Price Books moved to the building it's in now across Shady Brook in 1999. The old building has been gutted and is ready for reconstruction. The development has space for another 13,000 square feet for smaller retail and restaurants.

David Lewis of Lincoln Properties brokered the deal and Cunningham Architects of Dallas designed the center.

“Sharon wanted to wait and develop this property for the long term. She could have put something like a Jack-in-the-Box restaurant on it a long time ago,” said Kathy Doyle Thomas, Half Price Books' executive vice president. “I credit the family for waiting and doing something that helps preserve the neighborhood and for finding a tenant that complements our store and customers.”